Telangana activists protest in Delhi for separate state
By ANIMonday, February 21, 2011
NEW DELHI - Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) activists spearheading a demand for the creation of a separate Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh, staged a protest here on Monday.
They shouted slogans and raised placards.
A lawmaker said pro-Telangana activists would participate in a rally in Andhra Pradesh capital Hyderabad also.
“As a part of the Telangana non-cooperation movement, the governmental department are not working in many districts of the region and even all the educational institutions are closed. Today, the activists and Telangana leaders and local students will be marching to the state assembly and the governor’s house. We want to attract the attention of the central government and the entire nation. The federal government should fulfill the process of making Telangana state, that it had begun long back,” said Madhu Goud Yaskhi, a lawmaker, told mediapersons outside Parliament House.
The police in Hyderabad stopped students who were marching towards the state assembly and tried to disperse them with teargas.
The demand for the Telangana state, formed out of 10 districts of southern Andhra Pradesh state, has seen violent protests and political power play, with more than 300 people killed between 1969 and 1972.
Several protests and shutdowns had brought Andhra Pradesh to a near halt last year as pro-Telangana activists pressed their demand for the separate province.
However, chances of an immediate resolution appear slim as most politicians are sharply divided within their own parties on this issue, experts and political leaders say. (ANI)
